Abstract : Two theoretically related, but methodologically distinct areas of research pertinent to social comparison theory were considered: (1) that work directly related to Festinger's original formulation of social comparison theory which has appeared since Singer's summation of the state of this literature in 1966; and (2) that material relevant to the analogous area of the affiliation motive springing from the seminal work of Schachter. The studies dealing directly with social comparison theory have focused primarily on the problem of the choice of a comparison other. In spite of the intuitive appeal the initial formulations hold for researchers in need of an explanation for the data they have found, the results of the directly relevant research reviewed indicated that the phenomenon appears to exist only in a rarified experimental laboratory atmosphere. Further, even when thus found, the delimiting conditions destroy most of the elegant appeal of the initial formulations, and suggest more parsimonious alternative explanations of the data. A review of the research relevant to Schachter's extension of social comparison theory into the realm of emotions has revealed a similar circumscription of the initial postulations. (Author Modified Abstract)